-  //'/  rrf/r     "  J/frr 


Philadelphia,    December  9,   1909 


Major  William  H.   Lambert, 


1011  Chestnut   Street, 


Philadelphia. 


My  dear  Major  Lambert: 


In  compliance  with  the  request 
contained  in  your  letter  of  December  8,  I 
have  pleasure  in  sending  you,  by  bearer,  two  cop- 
ies of  the  History  of  Abraham  Lincoln  issued 
by  this  store  in  February  last. 


Very   truly  yours, 


K>^hjyi^U3yhJ  &4SU^rfLw 


Published  by 

STRAWBRIDGE  &  CLOTHIER 

PHILADELPHIA 

and  by  them 
Gratuitously  Distributed 

In  Commemoration 
of  the 

Centenary  Anniversary 

of  the  Birth  of 

Abraham  Lincoln 


0 


PORTRAIT  TAKEN   IN  1865;   A  VERY  FEW  DAYS  BEFORE  LINCOLN 

WAS  ASSASSINATED 

[From  painting  loaned  by  Major  William  H.  Lambert,  Philadelphia] 


Abraham  Lincoln 


BORN,   FEBRUARY    12,   1809 
DIED,  APRIL    15,  1865 

Sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States 


A  brief  Biography,  noting  especially  the  Influences  of  his  Early 

Years,  as   Manifested  in  the  Splendid  Fruitage  of  His 

Later  Life — Accounts  of  His  More  Important  Acts  as 

President — The  Assassination — Carefully  verified 

Anecdotes — Eulogies    and    Appreciations  : 


By  J.  F.  BEALE,  JR. 

Author  of  The  Life  of  Spurgeon,  The  Life  of  Jay  Gould,  The  Life  of  McKinley, 
Lives  of  Eminent  Divines,  Etc.,  Etc. 


PHILADELPHIA,    1909 
Published  By 

STRAWBRIDGE   &  CLOTHIER 


Copyright,  1909 

By 

Strawbridge  &  Clothier 


PRESS  OF 
STRAWBRIDGE   &  CLOTHIER 


3 


^/n_ 


INTRODUCTION 


—   .    ATURE  is  not  lavish  of  great  men — she  seems  to  distribute 
X^|        them  through  the  centuries,"  says  a  writer.     Rarely  have 
two    really    great    men    or   women    destined    to    leave    in- 
effaceable   footprints  on  time's    sands    been  born  even   in 
the  same  decade. 

€J  The  year  1809,  however,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  natal 
year  of  eight  men  and  two  women  to  whom  the  world  owes  debts  it 
can  never  pay,  no  matter  how  tall  its  monuments  or  how  profound 
its  eulogies. 

CJ  Only  by  taking  into  our  very  hearts  and  "main  intentions"  the 
lessons  their  lives  point  may  we  truly  honor  them. 

<J  The    scroll    of    honor    includes    Lincoln,    Holmes,    Poe,    Fanny 
Kemble,  Chopin,  Darwin,  Mendelssohn,  Tennyson,  Mrs.  Browning 
and  Gladstone. 
<J  What  a  group  ! 

•J  What  divine  inspiration  manifesting  itself  in  such  varied  form  ! 
C|  In  this  little  book  it  is  the  author's  privilege  to  present  a  brief 
life  of  Lincoln,  and  to  furnish  some  carefully  verified  anecdotes 
and  "  appreciations "  of  his  manifold  characteristics,  in  centenary 
commemoration  of  the  President-martyr's  birth,  on  February  12,  1809. 
<]J  May  each  one  who  reads  take  into  his  or  her  heart  the  lesson  that 
true  greatness  spells  true  simplicity,  true  humility,  honor  for  honor's 
sake,  unswerving  perseverance  in  the  right,  justice,  mercy,  and  that 
true  love  of  mankind  which  broadly  embraces  in  its  generosity  and 
tolerance  all  creeds,  all  conditions,  every  animate  and  inanimate 
thing  created  by  the  Almighty — intolerance  of  every  wrong,  but  not 
of  the  wrong  doer. 

J.  F.  B.,Jr. 


Philadelphia,  February  1,  1909. 


FIVE  PITHY  PARAGRAPHS  FROM 
FIVE  SPEECHES  OF  LINCOLN 


I  believe  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half 

slave  and  half  free. 

Speech,  Tune  16,  1858. 
J* 

Let  us  have  faith  that  the  right  makes  might ;  and  in  that 
faith  let  us  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. 

Address,  Ne<w  York  City,  February  21,  1859. 
J* 

In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the 
free — honorable  alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we  preserve. 

Second  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  1,  1862. 

That  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  free- 
dom, and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

Speech  at  Gettysburg ,  November  19,  1863. 

With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right. 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1865. 


R 


CHAPTER  I 

LINCOLN'S  PARENTS— HIS   BIRTH 

EPORTS  are  conflicting  as  to  the  regard  in  which  the 
parents  of  "The  Great  Emancipator"  were  held  in  the 
community  in  which  they  lived  at  the  time  of  his  birth, 
February    12,    1809,   and   during   the   few   succeeding 
years. 

Charges  have  been  made  that  Thomas  Lincoln,  father  of 
Abraham,  was  unkind  and  neglectful  to  his  wife,  provided 
poorly  for  her  and  for  his  family,  was  shiftless,  ignorant  and 
lazy.  Against  such  statements  stands  the  claim  of  writers 
equal  in  number,  and  entitled  to  at  least  equal  credence,  that 
in  those  early  days,  living,  as  he  did,  the  life  of  a  pioneer,  the 
husband  provided  for  his  family  as  well  as  was  possible. 

Certain  it  seems,  however,  that  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln, 
Abraham's  mother,  was  a  woman  of  more  refined  sensibilities 
than  her  husband,  possessing  finer  qualities  of  mind.  She  had 
throughout  those  early  days  a  constant  longing  for  better 
things,  for  closer  companionship  with  her  husband,  and  for 
the  refinements  of  life,  which  was  never  gratified.  To  a  con- 
siderable extent,  through  the  unavoidable  laws  of  inheritance, 
this  had  its  bearing  on  Abraham  Lincoln's  character  and  mind. 
Even  before  the  weight  of  greater  public  responsibilities  than 
have  ever  been  borne  by  any  other  American  gave  to  Lincoln's 
wonderful  face  and  figure  that  ineffable  expression  of  sad- 
ness, there  was,  as  shown  by  early  portraits,  and  attested  by 
early  writers,  an  expression  of  face  and  manner,  particularly 
about  the  eyes  and  mouth,  that  could  only  be  described  as 
longing,  yearning,  sorrowing  sympathy. 

7 


The  mother's  longing  was  for  better  things  and  conditions 
for  herself,  the  son's  for  humanity,  for  he  was  oblivious  of 
self  where  a  fellow  man  could  be  helped. 

The  mother  lacked  in  both  physical  strength  and  mental 
caliber  the  power  to  achieve  her  desire,  while  the  son,  gentle 
though  he  was,  recognized  no  obstacle  as  unsurmountable 
when  he  took  to  heart  an  ambition. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  father  seems  to  have  impressed  himself 
upon  his  son's  life  to  but  small  extent,  though  as  he  rather 
than  the  mother  was  selected  by  destiny  as  the  active  one  in 
regulating  where  and  how  the  boy  should  live,  his  influence, 
indirectly,  was  felt. 

In  1816,  when  young  Lincoln  was  seven,  the  family  moved 
or,  rather,  emigrated,  as  it  was  called  in  those  days,  to 
Indiana.  Thomas  Lincoln  gave  his  neighbors  no  reason  for 
this  removal  of  his  family,  and  it  was  assumed  that  he  was 
simply  desirous  of  following  his  brother  Josiah,  who  had  gone 
to  Indiana  a  pioneer  two  years  previously.  Some  said  that 
"Tom  Lincoln  would  never  stay  long  in  one  place."  He  had 
the  desire  for  new  scenes,  and  there  was  in  him  the  love  of 
conquering  the  wilderness,  though  he  was  not  a  man  fond  of 
work  which  partook  of  the  nature  of  drudgery.  He  is  reported, 
however,  "not  to  have  known  the  nature  of  fear." 

The  location  selected  for  settlement  was  a  spot  in  Spencer 
County,  Indiana,  some  fourteen  miles  north  of  the  Ohio  River, 
and  less  than  two  miles  from  the  village  of  Gentryville. 

Lincoln  gave  as  the  reason  for  this  emigration  that  his 
father  could  not  secure  perfect  land  titles  in  Kentucky,  and 
that  he  was  opposed  to  slavery,  which  was  an  institution 
strong  in  that  State.  In  such  a  wild  location  was  the  new 
home  that  trees  had  to  be  felled  to  make  a  road  or  pathway 
for  the  new  settlers. 

8 


Here  the  Lincolns,  with  little  Abraham's  help,  built  their 
own  cabin  of  logs.  There  were  no  windows,  but  one  entrance 
in  which  was  hung  a  skin  instead  of  a  door.  The  furniture, 
such  as  they  had,  was  of  their  own  making. 

Their  food  was  game  and  corn  meal,  with  but  one  vegeta- 
ble, potatoes.  They  made  their  own  soaps  and  candles,  and 
the  clothing  they  wore  was  literally  "home-made,"  from  spin- 
ning and  weaving  throughout. 

Young  Abraham  never  required  a  gymnasium  to 
strengthen  his  growing  muscles — he  worked  hard  and  for  long 
hours.  He  grew  strong  and  wiry,  developed  powerful 
endurance  and  resistance  to  disease  and  fatigue  which  stood 
him  and  the  nation  in  good  stead  in  the  last  sad  years  of  his 
manhood. 

CHAPTER  II 

DEATH   OF   LINCOLN'S  MOTHER 


I 


N  1818  the  mother  died.  She  was  prepared  for  burial, 
placed  in  a  coffin  made  by  her  husband,  and  by  him 
interred.  A  year  later  Thomas  Lincoln  went  back 
to  Kentucky,  married  Sally  Bush  Johnson,  a  widow 
with  three  children,  and  brought  her  to  the  house  in  Indiana. 
Abraham  was  then  ten  years  of  age.  A  supply  of  household 
comforts  and  conveniences  such  as  young  A'vaham  had  never 
seen  or  dreamed  existed  was  brought  from  her  former  home 
by  the  second  Mrs.  Lincoln.  She  at  once  made  great  changes 
in  the  Lincoln  home,  giving  to  it  an  air  of  comfort,  tidiness 
and  care  new  and  grateful  to  its  occupants. 

During  the  years  from  1819  till  1822,  from  Lincoln's  tenth 
to  thirteenth  years,  he  worked  steadily,  honestly,  earnestly  as 
a  farm  hand  and  general  laborer  for  his  father.  His  greatest 
accomplishment  was  in  felling  and  splitting  trees  for  timber 

9 


and  fence  rails.  For  one  so  young  he  was  thorough  in  his 
knowledge  of  the  primitive  farming  methods  of  those  days, 
and  was  even  a  reasonably  good  house  carpenter  and  furniture 
builder  and  repairer.  Whatever  he  undertook  he  gave  himself 
to  thoroughly,  enthusiastically  and  honestly.  If  he  objected 
to  working,  not  only  on  the  homestead  for  his  father,  but  to 
being  "hired  out,"  payment  for  his  labor  going  to  his  father, 
history  does  not  so  record. 

Abraham  is  spoken  of  as  remarkably  bright,  a  hard,  close 
student  of  the  few  books  at  his  disposal  at  the  time,  and 
infatuated  with  studies  and  learning  when  in  attendance  at 
school  for  the  few  weeks  at  a  time  that  some  strolling,  itinerant 
pedagogue  would  tarry  in  the  community  and  open  the  log 
school. 

In  1826  Lincoln  spent  some  time  ferrying  on  a  tributary 
of  the  Ohio  River  not  far  from  his  home.  This  brought  him 
in  contact  with  produce  raisers  of  his  home  vicinity  and  of 
the  sections  beyond.  Ere  long  he  secured  employment  at  eight 
dollars  a  month  to  go  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans  with  a 
load  of  produce. 

Up  to  his  eighteenth  year  Lincoln  had  attended  school, 
all  told,  a  total  of  less  than  a  year!  But  he  had  learned  to 
read,  and  he  knew  almost  by  heart  the  Bible,  Aesop's  Fables, 
Robinson  Crusoe,  Bunyon's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  A  History  of 
the  United  States,  the  Life  of  Washington,  and  the  Statutes 
of  Indiana. 

All  of  these  books  he  managed  to  possess.  Besides  them 
he  borrowed  numerous  others,  and  read  assiduously,  concen- 
tratedly,  rememberingly,  comprehendingly,  whenever  oppor- 
tunity presented.  With  a  turkey  feather  pen,  and  ink  made 
from  berries  and  roots  he  would  copy  long  extracts  from  bor- 
rowed books  and  commit  them  to  memory.  On  one  occasion 
he  walked  twenty-five  miles  through  a  snowstorm  in  bitter 

IO 


DICTIONARY 

PRIMARY    SCHOOLS. 


■ 


J 


BV  NOAH    WEHSTKH,   t.L.  D. 


PUBLISHED  BIT  N.  &  J.  WHITE.  10S>  PKA,L  Str«t. 
NEW  HAVEN:  IWBRIE  *  n.rK. 


»TB«OT»fKD  iV  A.  CHANDLKII,  NEW  romt 


1835. 


TITLE  PAGE  OF  LINCOLN'S  DICTIONARY 

[Loaned  by  Major  William  H.   Lambert] 


weather  to  borrow  a  book  of  which  he  had  heard.  The  walk 
was  repeated  when  the  book  was  returned  on  exactly  the  day 
he  had  promised  it  should  be.  He  would  read  a  book  in  which 
he  was  greatly  interested  till  midnight,  sleep  four  hours,  and 
at  daybreak  or  before  take  the  book  from  the  floor  beside  his 
bed  and  lie  reading  for  an  hour  or  more.  When  plowing  or 
harvesting  in  the  spring  and  summer,  or  wood  chopping  and 
rail  splitting  in  winter,  the  rest  hour  at  noon  found  Lincoln 
reading  as  he  ate  and  rested. 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY  POPULARITY 


S~"lO  retentive  was  his  memory,  so  interestingly  and 
enthusiastically  could  he  converse  concerning  the 
HHH  things  he  had  read,  that  as  he  approached  manhood's 
estate  he  became  the  favorite  member  of  the  group 
that  gathered  once  or  twice  a  week  at  the  general  store  in 
the  village  to  discuss  the  news  of  the  day,  including  slavery, 
which  was  fast  becoming  the  great  topic  of  the  times.  Then 
came  a  new  ambition  in  the  young  pioneer's  life — the  ambition 
to  be  an  orator,  a  swayer  of  men's  minds,  a  public  influence. 
Whenever  he  recited  or  read  aloud,  particularly  when  he  made 
a  stump  speech,  he  drew  great  applause.  He  was  more  than 
popular,  he  was  magnetic.  From  the  town  grocery  store  he 
drifted  to  the  Court  House  at  Booneville,  walking  many  miles 
for  the  privilege  of  hearing  the  orators  among  the  lawyers  of 
the  time  and  place.  Soon  his  admirers  found  that  he  could 
write  quite  as  forcefully  as  he  spoke,  and  he  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  some  of  his  ideas  and  observations  in  public  print 
at  a  much  younger  age  than  do  most  men  of  college  education 
and  advantageous  environment  in  these  days. 

12 


Lincoln's  first  broadening  influence  was  his  trip  to  New 
Orleans,  which  was,  proportionately  to  the  times,  a  greater 
metropolis,  a  more  cosmopolitan  place,  more  abounding  in 
wonders  to  delight  the  mind  and  senses  than  New  York  is 
today. 

To  know,  and  do,  and  to  be  something  far  above  medioc- 
rity became  a  settled  ambition  with  him.  His  reading,  par- 
ticularly in  the  field  of  history,  and  the  ambition  stimulated 
in  him  by  his  stepmother,  encouraged  him  to  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  his  doing  great  good  for  his  fellow  men.  Early 
associates,  writing  of  his  youthful  ambitions,  after  he  had 
become  President,  were  unanimous  in  the  statement  that  he 
desired  to  be  famous,  not  for  fame's  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of 
doing  some  great  thing  or  things  for  his  country  and  his 
fellow  men.  From  boyhood  through  all  his  life  runs  the  record 
of  sincerity,  determination,  thoroughness  and  love  of  his 
fellow  men,  with  not  a  thought  or  action  that  could  be  con- 
tributed to  self  interest. 

Anecdotes  of  his  life  from  boyhood  through  to,  and  during 
his  early  manhood,  are  very  plentiful.  They  tell  of  keen  wit, 
thoroughness,  thoughtfulness  of  others,  a  facility  in  writing, 
speaking  and  debating,  physical  prowess,  sterling  honesty, 
great  gentleness  and  supreme  love  of  justice. 

He  was  a  charming  reconteur,  and  even  in  his  more  serious 
conversations,  debates  and  speeches  he  began  in  these  early 
days  a  habit  which  never  left  him,  and  which  always  served  to 
endear  him  to  the  common  people — the  habit  of  making  his 
points  and  adorning  his  statement  with  stories,  maxims  and 
homely  tales,  the  influence  upon  his  mind,  unquestionably,  of 
his  early  reading  of  allegorical  literature. 

Lincoln's  stepmother,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of 
the  great  influences  in  his  life,  said  of  him  after  his  death. 

13 


"He  was  the  best,  the  most  obedient  and  dutiful  boy  I  ever 
saw,  and  he  was  so  droll." 

Lincoln  found  some  time  for  the  simple  pleasures  of  the 
country  lads  and  lassies  of  his  Indiana  home,  despite  his  hard 
work  and  assiduous  reading.  He  was  fond  of  fun,  sometimes 
even  playing  practical  jokes ;  called  occasionally  on  the  young 
girls  of  the  neighborhood,  and  hunted  a  little,  though  in  none 
of  these  things  did  he  seem  to  take  more  than  passing  interest. 

Lincoln  was  by  inheritance,  however,  inclined  somewhat 
to  melancholy,  which  often  he  could  not  overcome.  As  he 
developed  into  young  manhood  there  was  much  to  sadden 
his  deeply  sympathetic  nature,  and  his  melancholy  at  times 
was  very  apparent.  Crimes  ©f  all  degrees  were  rampant  about 
him.  One  of  his  closest  friends  lost  his  reason  and  finally 
became  an  incurable  idiot.  His  mother  had  been  buried  with- 
out services  of  undertaker  or  clergyman.  His  sister  had  died 
in  a  manner  most  heart-rending  to  Lincoln.  The  only  uplift 
possible  for  the  future  President  was  to  come  from  within. 
His  surroundings  were  hard  and  cheerless,  uninspiring,  dead- 
ening to  any  but  a  great  nature  that  would  not  be  downed. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  SECOND  CHANGE  OF  HOME 

N  1830,  when  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  moved  with 
his  father  from  Indiana  to  Central  Illinois.  The  fam- 
ily had  endured  many  hardships  and  had  nothing  to 
show  for  them. 
The  land  was  not  fertile,  nor  was  the  location  a  health- 
ful one.  Besides  Lincoln  and  his  father  there  were  several 
other  immigrants,  all  relatives.  There  was  hearty  good- 
speed  by  the  neighbors.  None  of  the  party,  however, 
seemed  to  be  so  tenderly  and  highly  regarded  as  "Abe,"  who 

14 


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from  earliest  childhood  possessed  that  great  faculty  of  uncon- 
sciously making  friends  who  were  devoted  and  life-long  in 
their  attachment. 

Ox-carts  were  the  means  of  conveyance  employed,  and 
the  future  President  drove  one  of  the  teams  most  of  the  way. 
The  journey  consumed  some  sixteen  days.  The  traveling  was 
over  very  rough  country.  On  this  trip  Lincoln  saw  for  the 
first  time  in  one  of  the  towns  through  which  the  little  party 
journeyed  a  printing  press,  and  in  the  town  of  Decatur,  the 
Court  House  in  which  he  was  years  after  to  practice  as  a 
lawyer. 

Like  a  dutiful  son,  Lincoln  helped  hew  the  logs  for  the 
cabin  that  was  built,  and  the  rails  to  include  the  ten  acres 
of  land  acquired  by  his  father.  While  he  had  attained  his 
majority  in  February,  he  did  not  claim  independence  of  his 
father  until  summer.  Then  he  left  without  owning  a  single 
possession,  without  even  a  good  suit  of  clothes.  He  split 
more  rails,  this  time  for  payment  in  cloth  to  make  respectable 
clothing  for  a  young  man  who  had  determined  to  go  out  into 
the  world  and  make  a  reputation.  He  was  now  at  his  full 
height,  which  was  6  feet  4  inches.  He  was  powerful,  yet 
no  one  ever  thought  of  fear  in  connection  with  him,  and,  in 
turn,  he  knew  no  fear.  He  was  a  gentle  giant,  counted  a  "good 
fellow,"  and  always,  without  effort,  winning  friends. 

Through  the  latter  part  of  1830  and  the  early  part  of  1831 
Lincoln  split  rails  and  performed  various  hard  manual  labor 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  father's  home.  In  the  winter  of  1831, 
with  two  companions,  he  took  a  flatboat  down  the  Mississippi 
to  New  Orleans.  The  boat  they  built  themselves  in  about 
thirty  days'  time.  Its  launching  was  accompanied  by  bravery 
on  the  part  of  Lincoln  in  saving  three  companions  from 
drowning,  which  spread  the  fame  of  "Big  Abe  Lincoln"  over 
the  entire  countryside. 

16 


In  New  Orleans  Lincoln  saw  for  the  first  time  human 
beings  sold  like  cattle.  It  was  here,  history  records,  that  he 
made  his  first  promise  to  any  one  to  do  his  best  toward  abol- 
ishing slavery,  in  no  matter  what  position  he  might  find  him- 
self in  life. 

CHAPTER  V 

LINCOLN   BECOMES  A  CLERK 


o 


OTTP 


N  this  trip  he  had  become  a  very  warm  friend  of  Dunton 
Offutt,  one  of  his  companions  in  the  hardships  of  the 
journey,  and  a  man  of  some  small  substance.  Upon 
his  return  from  New  Orleans  he  became  a  clerk  in 
his  friend's  store  and  mill  at  New  Salem,  Illinois.  Here  he 
made  friends  for  himself  and  money  for  his  employer  by  his 
recital  of  stories  and  ready  wit,  his  obliging  manners  and  fine 
honesty.  His  chivalry  in  thoroughly  thrashing  a  big  fellow 
who  insisted  upon  using  profane  language  in  his  store  in  the 
presence  of  ladies  also  fanned  the  flame  of  his  popularity.  So 
transparent  and  consistent  was  his  honesty  that  it  was  here 
he  probably  first  received  the  title  of  "Honest  Abe"  that  stuck 
to  him  through  life.  As  one  of  many  examples  of  his  honesty 
at  this  time,  it  is  told  of  Lincoln  that  he  walked  three  miles 
one  evening  to  return  six  and  a  quarter  cents  (half  a  levy) 
which  he  had  that  day  taken  from  a  woman  in  mistake  when 
making  change. 

As  the  business  of  the  store  improved  and  an  assistant 
was  engaged,  Lincoln  had  an  occasional  hour  or  two  for  read- 
ing and  study,  or  to  attend  debates  and  public  meetings.  Occa- 
sionally he  would  address  small  gatherings  on  some  topic  of 
local  interest.  So  eager  was  he  to  improve  his  mind,  to  polish 
his  speech,  and  to  command  facts,  that  he  would  walk  miles 
at  any  time  for  a  book  he  had  heard  of  and  desired  to  study. 

17 


The  whole  community  began  to  realize  his  sterling  worth,  his 
perseverance,  and  the  manifold  elements  of  greatness  which 
he  was  so  visibly  developing.  One  historian  relates  that  it 
was  about  this  time,  1832,  when  Lincoln  was  about  twenty- 
three  years  old,  and  had  been  urged  to  become  a  candidate 
for  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State,  that  this  prediction 
was  first  publicly  made  of  him  by  a  man  of  prominence  in  the 
community:  "That  man  Abe  Lincoln,  though  he's  never  had 
a  year's  schooling  in  all  his  life,  will  some  day  be  President  of 
the  United  States." 

During  this  period  in  his  life  for  four  years  Lincoln  was 
in  public  view.  His  ambitions  to  succeed  in  public  life,  to 
serve  his  country,  were  daily  stimulated.  The  store  in  which 
he  worked  was  losing  prestige  through  its  owner's  misman- 
agement. Lincoln  resigned  his  position  before  the  Sheriff 
took  charge  of  the  store,  and  was  made  a  captain  of  volunteers 
banded  to  suppress  Black  Hawk  and  his  Indians,  who  were 
terrorizing  the  then  frontier. 

Though  ignorant  of  military  discipline,  drill  and  manoeu- 
vers,  Lincoln  as  usual  won  the  hearts  of  his  men.  He  was 
idolized  by  his  company.  Later  he  joined  a  band  of  rangers 
scouting  the  country  over,  a  sort  of  frontier  police  or  con- 
stabulary. 

After  the  Indians  had  been  suppressed  Lincoln  again 
entered  politics.  In  his  candidacy  for  the  General  Assembly 
he  was  defeated,  the  first  and  only  time  he  ever  suffered 
defeat  at  the  polls,  by  vote  of  the  people,  though  he  afterward, 
once,  was  defeated  by  "electoral"  vote. 

He  had  accumulated  a  few  dollars,  had  credit  for  a  little 
more,  found  a  partner  named  Berry  who  was  willing  to  join 
him,  and  the  two  bought  a  general  store  and  grocery  business, 
which  they  conducted  with  indifferent  success  for  some 
months.     During  this   storekeeping  experience   Lincoln  had 

18 


more  leisure  than  had  before  fallen  to  his  lot.  He  became 
possessed  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  and  had  access  to 
several  other  law  books  which  he  read  and  studied  eagerly, 
and  thus  began  his  first  serious  and  systematic  study  of  law. 

Though  a  Whig,  Lincoln  was  appointed  postmaster  of 
New  Salem,  Illinois,  in  1833.  The  post  carried  with  it  but 
small  duties.  Postage  rates  in  those  days  were  from  6  cents 
to  25  cents  on  each  letter,  according  to  weight,  and  corre- 
spondence, both  business  and  social,  was  very  light.  The 
young  postmaster,  however,  conscientiously  performed  such 
duties  as  devolved  upon  him.  One  biographer  states  that 
though  many  of  the  patrons  of  the  office  lived  several  miles 
outside  of  town,  he  carried  their  mail  to  their  doors  without 
delay  upon  its  arrival  by  stage  at  the  postoffice. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1833  and  in  1834  the  young  store- 
keeper-postmaster found  his  business  growing  less  and  less 
profitable.  The  pittance  of  income  from  the  postmastership 
was  not  sufficient  for  living  expenses.  He  therefore,  upon 
learning  that  the  County  Surveyor  was  in  need  of  deputies, 
borrowed  as  many  books  on  surveying  as  he  could  procure, 
studied  with  his  usual  devotion  to  any  subject  he  considered 
"worth  while,"  and  in  a  few  weeks  had  mastered  the  subject 
sufficiently  to  gain  him  the  coveted  appointment.  His  surveys 
were  always  thorough  and  correct.  There  was  no  slipshod, 
inaccurate  work  possible  to  a  man  of  Lincoln's  character.  In 
1836  he  laid  out  the  town  of  Petersburg,  and  built  some  new 
roads.  His  salary  was  three  dollars  a  day,  but  of  this  amount  so 
much  was  required  for  the  expense  of  getting  about  the 
country  that  he  was  in  debt  most  of  the  time. 

He  still  retained  his  partnership  in  the  grocery  store  with 
Berry,  but  fate  seemed  against  the  venture  and  the  firm  failed. 
Lincoln  felt  this  keenly.  He  gave  notes  for  his  share  of  the 
firm's  indebtedness,  which  more  than  ten  years  later  he  paid 

19 


with  interest  at  rates  so  high  that  in  the  case  of  some  of  the 
notes  the  amount  had  more  than  doubled. 

In  1834  Lincoln  again  became  a  candidate  for  the  Legis- 
lature, and  was  elected.  With  renewed  zeal  he  now  pursued 
his  reading  of  law.  He  literally  devoured  all  the  law  books 
within  his  reach.  Assembly  convened  in  December,  and  Lin- 
coln delved  into  his  duties  as  legislator  with  enthusiasm.  Here 
he  met  for  the  first  time,  besides  many  other  men  of  power  and 
destiny,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  was  to  play  such  an  im- 
portant part  in  his  life.  The  munificent  salary  of  three  dollars 
a  day  was  a  legislator's  salary  at  this  time. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  FIRST  GREAT   SORROW 

INCOLN  now  considered  himself  so  established  that 
he  could  speak  of  his  love  for  a  highly  connected, 
gentle  mannered,  beautiful  young  woman  of  New 
Salem,  Ann  Rutledge,  four  years  his  junior,  and  the 


L 


daughter  of  one  of  the  town's  foremost  citizens.  She  was 
much  courted,  and  once  engaged  to  a  man  who  proved  worth- 
less. This  engagement  was  broken,  however,  and  in  1835  she 
became  engaged  to  marry  the  future  President. 

The  young  woman  wished  for  one  more  year  of  study  in 
an  academy,  and  Lincoln  desired  to  complete  his  own  legal 
studies,  consequently  the  date  of  the  contemplated  wedding 
was  arranged  for  a  year  later. 

Here  fate  stepped  in  and  robbed  Lincoln  of  the  greatest 
joy  his  life  of  hardship  had  known.  Ann  Rutledge  fell  ill,  and 
on  August  25,  1835,  she  died.  With  her  mortal  remains 
Lincoln  felt  his  heart  was  buried.  He  was  inconsolable.  His 
tendency  to  melancholy  became  intensified.  For  hours  he 
would  sit  by  her  grave  oblivious  to  all  but  his  black,  brooding 


20 


thoughts.  His  friends  despaired  of  his  reason.  Then  he  forced 
upon  himself  control  of  his  great  grief,  so  far  as  all  visible 
signs  except  the  deepening  lines  of  melancholy  in  his  splendid 
face  were  concerned. 

This  sad  experience  threatened  to  blast  forever  a  life  to 
which  our  country  owes  so  much.  But  Lincoln  was  "captain 
of  his  soul,"  he  mastered  his  grief,  though  it  never  left  him. 
He  pursued  his  studies  of  the  law  and  his  legislative  duties 
thoroughly  and  conscientiously,  albeit  sadly. 

To  his  last  day  Lincoln  carried  the  fond  memory  of  the 
lovely  Ann  Rutledge,  a  tender  sentiment,  reverently  held.  In 
later  years,  as  is  attested  by  his  intimates,  he  could  with  calm 
voice  and  manner  refer  to  his  bereavement,  but  on  the  few 
occasions  on  which  there  was  mention  of  the  subject,  his  eyes 
were  seen  to  assume  an  expression  never  noticed  at  any  other 
time. 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SECOND   PERIOD   OF   LINCOLN'S  LIFE  BEGINS 


I 


N  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  seen  the  lineage  and 
the  influences  that  prepared  the  way  and  the  man  for 
the  events  from  1837  to  1865,  the  twenty-eight  years 
during  which  Lincoln  was  constantly  in  public  life, 
and  with  which  the  people  of  the  country,  young  and  old, 
native  born  and  naturalized,  are  familiar. 

It  will  be  observed,  as  a  curious  coincidence,  that  Lincoln's 
life  was  divided  into  two  equal  parts — the  twenty-eight  years 
of  preparation  from  1809  to  1837  and  the  twenty-eight  years 
from  thence  to  his  death  in  1865,  which  formed  the  period  of 
achievement. 

Events  in  which  Loncoln  was  an  important  factor  came 
in  rapid  succession  during  this  second,  or  achievement,  period. 
From  pioneer  he  became  statesman,  he  was  looked  up  to  by 

21 


his  fellow-legislators  with  intense  respect  for  his  manhood  and 
integrity,  and  for  his  indomitable  will  and  energy.  As  instance, 
among  his  early  legislative  duties  he  was  by  his  fellows 
entrusted  with  a  campaign  to  remove  the  capital  of  Illinois 
from  Vandalia  to  Springfield.  The  project  was  successful, 
though  practically  every  one  who  favored  it,  except  Lincoln, 
feared  the  outcome.  The  labor  involved  was  stupendous,  and 
Lincoln  was  a  mere  tyro  in  legislative  methods  and  lobbying. 
Here  his  wonderful  personality  stood  him  in  good  stead. 

The  young  statesman-lawyer  was  making  no  money 
during  his  first  and  second  terms  in  the  Legislature.  To  be 
sure,  he  had  entered  into  partnership  with  Major  John  T. 
Stuart,  but  financial  results  were  meager.  Though  Lincoln 
held  a  military  commission  and  he  might  have  used  his  title 
of  captain  after  he  moved  to  Springfield  in  1837,  he  preferred 
to  be  known  and  addressed  as  plain  A.  Lincoln.  He  was  still 
practicing  true  simplicity  because  it  was  his  nature,  though, 
as  may  be  seen  by  one  of  the  illustrations  of  this  "apprecia- 
tion," he  soon  after  becoming  "admitted  to  the  bar"  wrote  on 
the  title  page  of  his  only  dictionary  "Esquire,  Attorney-at- 
Law,  Counsellor,  etc." 

In  1838  came  re-election  to  the  Legislature.  He  was 
Whig  candidate  for  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
In  1840  came  another  re-election,  and  in  that  year  he  made 
the  circuit  of  Illinois  making  speeches  for  "Old  Tippecanoe 
and  Tyler  too,"  an  expression  which  had  tremendous  weight 
in  the  campaign,  and  which  has  ever  since  been  imitated  in 
other  political  campaigns  of  greater  or  less  importance. 

Then  in  1841  came  a  new  law  partnership,  this  time  with 
Stephen  T.  Logan.  The  firm  name  was  Logan  &  Lincoln; 
as  in  other  partnerships,  Lincoln's  name  was  in  the  back- 
ground. The  office  was  by  no  means  imposing,  nor  were  the 
clients  numerous.    The  legal  library  was  small,  and  the  cases 

22 


V 


PROBABLY  THE  FIRST  TIME  LINCOLN  SIGNED  HIS  NAME 
WITH  A  TITLE.    THE  FLY  LEAF  OF  HIS  DICTIONARY 

[Loaned  by  Major  William  H.   Lambert] 


were  not  diversified  to  any  great  extent.  The  Courts  of  the 
time  were  scenes  of  oratory  such  as  is  seldom  if  ever  heard 
in  these  days  in  or  out  of  Court.  Addresses  to  Court  and  jury 
were  seldom  polished,  but  they  were  forceful.  There  was 
revel  in  wit  and  anecdote,  and  here  Lincoln  shone  to  great 
advantage — always  making  friends.  There  were  enemies,  too, 
but  these  helped  him,  in  some  cases,  to  greater  renown  than 
did  his  friends. 

It  will  be  difficult  for  many  persons  to  believe  that  Lincoln 
could  ever  have  been  challenged  to  fight  a  duel,  yet  such  is 
the  well  authenticated  fact.  In  1842  one  James  Shields,  a  hot- 
headed man,  brave,  and  having  served  his  country  with  dis- 
tinction in  the  Mexican  War,  sent  him  a  challenge,  which  he 
accepted,  because  he  was  convinced  that  as  the  code  stood  in 
those  days  he  could  not,  with  honor,  refuse.  Intervention  of 
friends,  however,  prevented  the  duel  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
conserve  the  honor  of  both  parties.  The  affair  was  a  politico- 
journalistic  one,  and  was  given  much  publicity.  It  is  the  first 
and  only  quarrel  recorded  of  Lincoln,  and  was  not  of  his 
seeking.  As  already  stated  in  these  pages,  he  once  thrashed 
an  insulting  bully  for  using  profane  language  in  the  presence 
of  women,  but  he  never  sought  a  quarrel  with  any  one,  nor 
could  he  be  forced  into  one.  His  after  life  had  in  it  much  of 
tempestuous  politics,  but  never  personal  quarrels. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

ENGAGEMENT  AND  MARRIAGE 

N  1840  Lincoln  became  engaged  to  marry  Mary  Todd, 
a  young  woman  of  excellent  connections  and  educa- 
tion, who  was  visiting  in  Springfield,  her  home  being 
in  Lexington,  Kentucky. 
During  the  major  portion  of  the  time  elapsing  until  the 
wedding,  in  1842,  Lincoln  was  profoundly  unhappy.     There 

24 


i— * 


I 


were  frequent  moments  when  he  doubted  the  wisdom  of  his 
choice,  and  it  is  recorded  that  he  on  at  least  two  occasions 
expressed  his  fear  of  the  possibility  of  living  in  harmony 
with  his  fiancee,  yet  he  felt  a  strong  attachment  for  her  and, 
further,  felt  in  honor  bound  to  marry  her,  having  pledged 
himself.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  wedding  day  first  set 
found  Lincoln  missing  at  the  time  for  the  ceremony,  but  the 
truth  of  this  is  a  disputed  point  among  historians,  with  a 
preponderance  of  evidence  in  favor  of  doubting  the  statement. 

However,  on  November  4,  1842,  the  marriage  took  place. 

The  year  1844  witnessed  Lincoln  as  head  of  the  electoral 
ticket  for  Henry  Clay,  the  Whig  candidate  for  President,  who 
was  defeated. 

The  next  year  he  joined  in  a  law  partnership  with  Hern- 
don.  In  1846  came  his  election  to  Congress.  Two  years  later 
he  covered  the  Eastern  States,  making  enthusiastic,  virile 
speeches  for  Zachery  Taylor. 

He  was  offered  the  Governorship  of  Oregon  in  1849,  but 
declined  for  reasons  variously  stated  by  his  biographers,  the 
greater  number  claiming  that  the  refusal  was  on  his  wife's 
account. 

The  year  1854  brought  Lincoln  into  his  first  conflict  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  on  the  slavery  question.  Two  years  later 
he  joined  the  Republican  party  and  came  before  the  people 
as  candidate  for  Vice-President  on  the  first  ticket  of  that 
party,  with  John  C.  Fremont  nominated  for  President. 

Another  lapse  of  two  years  and  there  occurred  that  famous 
series  of  debates  with  Douglas  and  others  in  which  he  con- 
tested for  the  seat  in  the  Senate  which  Douglas  won,  though 
Lincoln  had  the  larger  popular  vote. 

During  1859  and  1860  Lincoln  made  telling  speeches  and 
drew  to  him  and  the  cause  he  championed  a  tremendous  fol- 
lowing in  the  New  England  States,  New  York  and  Kansas. 

25 


?C<r~:J?.   fa-   ^-^— 

slypes     £f^v: 

^r  Vi     ^    A^-  ^-   ^°    ^  >^— /   <— 

'  /f » &<£  i  %/cZXZtf 


FACSIMILE  OF  LETTER  WRITTEN  BY  LINCOLN,  SIGNED  BY  HIM  AND 

GOVERNOR  YATES,    HERNDON,    LINCOLN'S   LAW    PARTNER   AND 

BIOGRAPHER   AND  BY  JAYNE,  WHO  AFTER  THE  DATE  OF 

THIS  LETTER  BECAME  RELATED  TO  LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  IX 

ELECTION    AS   PRESIDENT 

OUR  distinct  parties  contested  for  supremacy  in  the 
presidential  contest  of  1860.  Lincoln  was  the  Repub- 
lican candidate,  winning  his  nomination  over  Seward. 
In  the  following  election  Lincoln  succeeded  over 
his  rival  by  a  very  narrow  majority.  On  February  13,  1861, 
Congress  having  counted  all  the  votes  of  the  four  parties, 
announced  his  election,  and  the  inauguration  took  place 
March  4. 

Having  staked  upon  this  election  the  whole  doctrine  of 
State  rights  and  the  extension  of  slavery,  the  leading  Southern 
States  looked  upon  Lincoln's  election  as  a  defiance  of  the 
whole  course  of  legislation  looking  to  the  upholding  of  the 
Southern  view. 

Upon  leaving  his  home  at  Springfield  on  February  11, 
1861,  for  Washington,  preparatory  to  the  inauguration,  the 
following  words  were  addressed  to  his  fellow-townsmen  from 
the  platform  of  the  railroad  car  on  which  he  departed : 

"No  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can  appreciate  my  feeling  of 
sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place,  and  the  kindness  of 
these  people,  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man. 
Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one  is  buried.  I  now 
leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return,  with 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  Wash- 
ington. Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who 
ever  attended  him,  I  can  not  succeed.  With  that  assistance 
I  can  not  fail.  Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me  and 
remain  with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confi- 
dently hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care  commending 
you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid 
you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

27 


The  rebellion  followed,  for  the  South  considered  State 
rights  and  slave  labor  as  the  foundation  of  their  prosperity 
and  power,  especially  since  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  had 
made  cotton  the  king  of  the  world  of  commerce,  as  they 
viewed  the  matter. 

Woodrow  Wilson  says  that  in  the  Northern  opposition  to 
slavery  the  South  felt  a  keen  sense  of  injustice.  They  believed 
that  the  worst  side  of  the  institution  was  wilfully  presented, 
that  its  necessities  and  its  better  side  were  wilfully  suppressed. 
In  the  election  of  Lincoln  they  saw  the  beginning  of  an  attempt 
to  dominate  them  completely.  It  seemed  the  outcome  of  a 
continual  battle  against  them  and  their  institutions,  and  they 
saw  no  escape  except  by  secession  from  the  Union.  The  long 
conflict  that  followed  belongs  to  history.  To  enter  upon  any 
phase  of  it  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  little  book. 

Lincoln  disappointed  the  abolitionists  and  the  most  rabid 
opponents  of  the  South.  He  waited  until  he  believed  that 
there  was  armed  resistance  to  the  Federal  laws,  and  when  this 
crisis  came  acted  promptly  and  effectively.  The  long  conflict 
followed,  and  cost  the  country  North  and  South  treasure  and 
lives  untold,  even  to  this  day  hardly  realized  to  the  full. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  ASSASSINATION 

N  April     14,    1861,    the    flag    was    hauled    down    from 
Fort    Sumter.      Every   school    child    knows   the   his- 
tory   of    events    that    tried    men's    souls    and    shook 
the  very  foundations  of  the  country  in  the  four  suc- 
ceeding years. 

Exactly  to  the  day,  on  April  14,  1865,  came  another  event, 
stupendous  in  our  country's  history — one  of  the  outcomes  of 

28 


those  four  terrible,  sanguinary  years,  during  which  such  war 
was  waged  that  Sherman  called  it  "four  years  of  hell ;"  this 
event  transpired  and  plunged  in  deepest  grief,  not  only  this 
country,  but  the  entire  civilized  world.  The  emancipator  of 
the  slaves,  the  savior  of  a  great  country,  a  warm,  gentle, 
righteous  soul,  President  of  a  country  fast  becoming  the 
greatest  on  earth,  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  man  of  and  for  the 
people,  was  stricken  by  the  bullet  of  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  at 
Ford's  Theater,  Washington,  as  he  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  and 
friends  was  viewing  a  production  of  the  eccentric  comedy, 
"Our  American  Cousin." 

Ford's  had  been  a  Baptist  Church  prior  to  the  war.  It 
was  used  during  the  war  mainly  for  theatrical  productions. 
After  the  night  of  the  assassination  its  doors  were  never 
opened  for  theatrical  purposes,  and  the  government  subse- 
quently purchased  the  building. 

It  is  stated  by  some  writers  that  Booth,  who  had  at  various 
times  played  at  Ford's  Theater,  had  "sent  the  President  the 
State  Box,"  and  invited  him  to  occupy  it  on  the  evening  of 
April  14,  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  General  and  Mrs.  Grant. 
Having  entree  to  all  parts  of  the  theater,  it  is  claimed  that 
he  thought  he  could  readily,  in  the  dramatic  manner  an  actor 
would  choose,  commit  the  atrocious  act,  make  his  escape  as 
carefully  planned  with  his  conspirators,  and,  as  he  believed, 
free  his  country  of  a  tyrant  and  completely  change  the  com- 
plexion of  political  affairs. 

Other  writers  make  the  statement  that  Henry  Ford,  man- 
ager of  the  theater,  remarked  to  Booth  on  the  morning  of  the 
fourteenth  that  the  President's  party  had  secured  the  State 
Box,  and  one  writer  states  that  he  jokingly  added,  "General 
Lee  will  be  with  them." 

Instantly,  this  writer  says,  Booth's  whole  manner  became 
one  of  extreme  intensity.     He  blurted  out  a  remark  to  the 

29 


effect  that  no  Southern  soldier  and  gentleman  would  permit 
himself  to  be  paraded  as  the  Romans  did  their  captives.  Pos- 
sibly this  hastened  the  day  for  the  perpetration  of  crime. 
Statements  are  conflicting. 

The  planning  for  the  assassination  of  the  President  and 
of  Secretary  Seward  by  Booth,  the  Surratts,  Arnold,  Atzeroth, 
and  O'Laughlin,  the  success  in  the  case  of  the  President,  the 
attempt  upon  Seward's  life  and  its  failure,  the  capture  of  the 
conspirators,  their  death  and  all  the  attendant  harrowing 
details  are  familiar  to  a  large  proportion  of  Americans.  On 
this  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  Lincoln's  birth  they  are 
being  republished  in  many  forms  in  the  newspaper  and  maga- 
zine press. 

In  this  little  book  we  attempt  only  to  give  a  sketch  of 
Lincoln's  life,  ambitions,  sorrows  and  achievements,  and  the 
effect  of  his  life  and  policies  on  history,  by  means  of  carefully 
sifted,  verified  and  compared  published  statements  as  well  as 
facts  heretofore  unprinted ;  by  reproductions  of  his  more  im- 
portant utterances  and  writings,  and  by  side  lights  thrown 
upon  his  life  and  work  by  men  of  affairs  contemporary  with 
him  and  otherwise. 

Though  a  martyr  for  the  country  he  loved,  and  to  the 
cause  he  espoused  with  all  the  strength  of  his  great  heart  and 
mind,  he  was  so  beloved  by  the  people  before  his  sudden  and 
sad  taking  off  that  the  martyrdom  but  served  to  canonize  him. 
It  was  not  needed  to  increase  the  love  of  an  already  devoted 
people,  though  had  his  assassination  taken  place  before  the 
surrender  of  Lee,  and  the  virtual  end  of  the  War  of  the  Re- 
bellion, when  he  had  many  enemies  and  detractors  within  his 
own  ranks,  a  somewhat  different  aspect  would  have  been 
given  the  event,  and  the  perspective  of  years  might  not  even 
by  this  time  have  properly  focused  his  acts. 


30 


CHAPTER  XI 

AN   INTIMATE  APPRECIATION   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

INCOLN'S  private  secretaries,  Messrs.  John  Hay  and 
John  G.  Nicolay,  as  a  labor  of  love,  many  years  after 
the  death  of  the  great  man  in  whose  service  they  had 
labored  diligently  and  affectionately,  gave  to  the 
world,  through  the  press  of  The  Century  Company,  an  ex- 
haustive work  on  his  life  and  the  history  of  his  time. 

Theirs,  of  course,  was  the  privilege  of  inside,  authentic 
information  covering  the  period  of  Lincoln's  incumbency  as 
President.  They  were  in  contact  with  him  so  constantly  and 
so  intimately  for  such  a  length  of  time,  and  under  such  circum- 
stances, that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  know  the  man's 
character  as  perhaps  no  other  individuals  might. 

The  entire  work  is  in  a  sense  an  eulogy  of  the  country's 
first  great  martyr.  In  one  of  the  ten  volumes,  however, 
appears  the  following,  which  is  one  of  the  most  concise,  most 
accurate,  and  at  the  same  time  most  comprehensive  apprecia- 
tions of  Abraham  Lincoln  ever  penned: 

"To  qualifications  of  high  literary  excellence,  and  easy 
practical  mastery  of  affairs  of  transcendant  importance,  we 
must  add,  as  an  explanation  of  his  immediate  and  world-wide 
fame,  his  possession  of  certain  moral  qualities  rarely  com- 
bined, in  such  high  degree,  in  one  individual. 

"His  heart  was  so  tender  that  he  would  dismount  from 
his  horse  in  a  forest  to  replace  in  their  nest  young  birds  which 
had  fallen  by  the  roadside;  he  could  not  sleep  at  night  if  he 
knew  that  a  soldier  boy  was  under  sentence  of  death ;  he  could 
not,  even  at  the  bidding  of  duty  or  policy,  refuse  the  prayer 
of  age  or  helplessness  in  distress. 

31 


"Children  instinctively  loved  him;  they  never  found  his 
rugged  features  ugly;  his  sympathies  were  quick  and  seem- 
ingly unlimited.  He  was  absolutely  without  prejudice  of 
class  or  condition.  Frederick  Douglass  says  he  was  the  only 
man  of  distinction  he  ever  met  who  never  reminded  him  by 
word  or  manner  of  his  color;  he  was  as  just  and  generous  to 
the  rich  and  well  born  as  to  the  poor  and  humble — a  thing 
rare  among  politicians. 

"He  was  tolerant  even  of  evil:  though  no  man  can  ever 
have  lived  with  a  loftier  scorn  of  meanness  and  selfishness, 
he  yet  recognized  their  existence  and  counted  with  them.  He 
said  one  day,  with  a  flash  of  cynical  wisdom  worthy  of  La 
Rochefoucauld,  that  honest  statesmanship  was  the  employ- 
ment of  individual  meannesses  for  the  public  good.  He  never 
asked  perfection  of  any  one ;  he  did  not  even  insist,  for  others, 
upon  the  high  standards  he  set  for  himself. 

"At  a  time  before  the  word  was  invented  he  was  the  first 
of  opportunists.  With  the  fire  of  a  reformer  and  a  martyr 
in  his  heart  he  yet  proceeded  by  the  ways  of  cautious  and 
practical  statecraft.  He  always  worked  with  things  as  they 
were,  while  never  relinquishing  the  desire  and  effort  to  make 
them  better.  To  a  hope  which  saw  the  Delectable  Mountains 
of  absolute  justice  and  peace  in  the  future,  to  a  faith  that  God 
in  his  own  time  would  give  to  all  men  the  things  convenient 
to  them,  he  added  a  charity  which  embraced  in  its  deep  bosom 
all  the  good  and  the  bad,  all  the  virtues  and  the  infirmities  of 
men,  and  a  patience  like  that  of  nature,  which  in  its  vast  and 
fruitful  activity  knows  neither  haste  nor  rest. 

"A  character  like  this  is  among  the  precious  heirlooms  of 
the  Republic ;  and  by  a  special  good  fortune  every  part  of  the 
country  has  an  equal  claim  and  pride  in  it.  Lincoln's  blood 
came  from  the  veins  of  New  England  emigrants,  of  Middle 
State  Quakers,  of  Virginia  planters,  of  Kentucky  pioneers ;  he 

32 


himself  was  one  of  the  men  who  grew  up  with  the  earliest 
growth  of  the  Great  West. 

"Every  jewel  of  his  mind  or  his  conduct  sheds  radiance 
on  each  portion  of  the  nation.  The  marvelous  symmetry  and 
balance  of  his  intellect  and  character  may  have  owed  some- 
thing to  this  varied  environment  of  his  race,  and  they  may  fitly 
typify  the  variety  and  solidity  of  the  Republic.  T.t  may  not  be 
unreasonable  to  hope  that  his  name  and  his  r.r.iown  may  be 
forever  a  bond  of  union  to  the  country  which  he  loved  with 
an  affection  so  impartial,  and  served,  in  lif'  ..nci  m  death,  with 
such  entire  devotion." 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE  TENDER  SYMPATHY  OF  LINCOLN 


^TIARY  A.  LIVERMORE,  in  her  fine  work,  "My  Story 
*▼*        of  the  War,"  which  is  a  womans'  narrative  of  four 
^jE^j      years'  personal  service  as  a  nurse  in  the  Union  Army, 
in  camps,  hospitals  and  at  the  front,  a  woman  who 
was  greatly  loved  by  the  entire  Union  Army,  greatly  esteemed 
by  her  countrymen,  and  highly  honored  several  times  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  throws  this  light  on  the  tender  side  of  the  great 
man's  character.     It  also  shows  the  thoroughness  and  direct- 
ness of  his  mental  process  of  investigation. 

"I  had  an  opportunity  during  the  war,"  says  Mrs.  Liver- 
more,  "of  witnessing  the  reception  by  the  President  of  two 
applications  for  pardon,  which  met  with  widely  different  fates. 
The  case  of  the  first  was  this :  A  young  man,  belonging  to  a 
Virginia  family  of  most  treasonable  character,  remained  in 
Washington  when  the  rest  of  the  household  went  with  the 
Confederacy.  Though  he  took  no  active  part  with  the  loyalists 
of  the  capital,  he  was  so  quiet  and  prudent  as  to  allay  their 
suspicions  concerning  him,  and  finally  to  gain  their  confidence. 

33 


"He  managed  to  obtain  information  valuable  to  the  rebels, 
which  he  imparted  to  them  unreservedly. 

"Suddenly  this  young  man  was  missing  from  his  place  of 
business.  'Unexpectedly  called  away  by  business,'  was 
assigned  as  the  reason  for  his  absence.  In  one  of  the  cavalry 
skirmishes,  which  occurred  almost  daily  in  Maryland,  during 
the  June  raid  of  Lee's  army,  the  young  man  was  taken  prisoner 
by  General  Kilpatrick's  men  during  a  brush  with  Stuart's 
cavalry. 

"I  do  not  remember  the  technicalities,  but  he  was  recog- 
nized, proved  a  spy,  and,  but  for  the  President's  leniency, 
would  have  been  hanged.  Instead  of  death,  however,  he  was 
sentenced  to  twenty  years'  imprisonment.  Immediately  great 
interests  were  moving  to  his  relief.  Every  wire  was  pulled. 
At  last  the  President  himself  was  besieged. 

"It  was  in  the  President's  room,  while  waiting  my  turn 
for  an  interview,  that  I  learned  the  above  facts.  Two  persons 
were  pleading  in  his  behalf — a  man  and  a  woman — the  latter 
elegant,  beautiful,  and  with  a  certain  air  of  culture,  but  the 
former  having  the  look  of  a  refined  villain.  It  was  a  very 
plausible  story  as  they  told  it. 

"The  President  listened  impatiently  and  with  a  darkening 
face.  'There  is  not  a  word  of  this  true!'  he  burst  in,  abruptly 
and  sternly,  'and  you  know  it  as  well  as  I  do.  He  was  a  spy; 
he  has  been  a  spy ;  he  ought  to  have  been  hanged  as  a  spy. 
From  the  fuss  you  folks,  who  are  none  too  loyal,  are  making 
about  him,  I  am  convinced  he  was  more  valuable  to  the  cause 
of  the  enemy  than  we  have  yet  suspected.  You  are  the  third 
set  of  persons  that  have  been  to  me  to  get  him  pardoned. 
Now  I'll  tell  you  what — -if  any  of  you  come  bothering  me  any 
more  about  his  being  set  at  liberty,  that  will  decide  his  fate. 
I  will  have  him  hanged,  as  he  deserves  to  be.  You  ought  to 
bless  your  stars  that  he  got  off  with  a  whole  neck,  and  if 

34 


you  don't  want  to  see  him  hanged  as  high  as  Hamen  don't 
you  come  to  me  again  about  him.'  The  petitioners,  as  may 
be  imagined,  stood  not  upon  the  order  of  their  going,  but  went 
at  once,  and  after  their  departure  the  President  narrated  the 
facts  which  I  have  given. 

"The  other  case  was  of  a  different  character. 

"I  was  in  the  ante-chamber  of  the  President's  room  one 
morning,  waiting  the  exit  of  Secretary  Stanton,  who  was  hold- 
ing an  interview  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  Then,  as  my  party  was 
under  the  escort  of  a  Senator,  we  were  entitled  to  the  next 
interview.  As  we  were  waiting  the  departure  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  who  was  making  a  long  visit,  I  looked  'round  upon 
the  crowd  who  were  biding  their  time  to  present  their  claims 
upon  the  President's  attention. 

"There  were  some  fifty  men  in  attendance,  and,  besides 
myself,  only  one  woman.  She  was  sitting  in  a  corner  of  the 
ante-room,  with  her  face  to  the  wall.  Thinking  she  had  shrunk 
into  this  place  from  shamefulness  at  being  the  only  woman 
among  so  many  men,  I  moved  a  little  towards  her.  She  was 
poor  looking,  shabbily  but  neatly  dressed,  middle-aged,  sun- 
burned and  careworn.  Her  hands  were  tightly  clenching  a 
handkerchief,  which  she  held  close  against  her  breast,  with 
the  evident  effort  to  master  the  emotion  that  was  shaking  her 
whole  frame,  and  she  was  weeping.  I  saw  by  her  manner  that 
she  was  in  trouble,  and  my  heart  went  out  to  her. 

"Putting  my  arm  about  her,  I  stooped  and  said,  'My  poor 
woman,  you  are  in  trouble;  can  I  do  anything  to  help  you?' 

She  turned  a  most  imploring  face  toward  me,  and  clutched 
my  hand  nervously.  'Oh!'  said  she,  'I  am  in  great  trouble. 
My  husband  is  to  be  shot,  and  if  I  can  not  get  him  pardoned 
nobody  can  comfort  me.'  A  kindly  appearing  man  stepped 
forward,  a  country  neighbor  of  the  poor  woman,  and  told  her 
story.     It  was  this : 

35 


"Her  husband  was  a  major  of  an  Illinois  regiment,  and 
had  served  two  years  in  the  army  with  honor  and  fidelity. 
His  colonel  was  a  hard  man,  and,  when  intoxicated,  abusive, 
uncontrollable  and  profane.  He  was,  however,  a  good  sol- 
dier, and,  in  the  main,  popular  with  his  men.  While  drinking 
he  had  come  fiercely  in  collision  with  the  major,  and  a  most 
profane  and  angry  altercation  ensued  in  presence  of  half  the 
regiment.  The  colonel  called  the  major  a  'coward,'  with 
numerous  obscene  and  profane  prefixes. 

"The  major  was  a  sober  man,  reticent,  somewhat  un- 
popular, very  cool  and  slow  to  anger;  but  this  stung  him. 
'Take  that  back,  Colonel!'  he  demanded,  fiercely,  drawing  his 
revolver,  'or  you  are  a  dead  man.'  The  colonel  repeated  the 
insult,  even  more  offensively.  Before  the  bystanders  could 
interfere  the  colonel  fell  dead  by  the  major's  hand. 

"For  this  he  was  tried,  convicted,  sentenced  to  be  shot, 
and  was  then  lying  in  jail  in  Memphis,  awaiting  his  death. 
He  had  written  his  wife  a  farewell  letter,  entreating  her  to 
be  reconciled  to  the  event — a  brief  epistle,  which  she  gave 
me  to  read — full  of  tenderness  for  her,  and  accusation  for 
himself,  but  evincing  great  manliness.  The  Judge-Advocate 
had  also  written  her,  urging  her  to  go  immediately  to  Wash- 
ington, and  in  person  to  ask  the  too-forgiving  President  to 
commute  her  husband's  sentence  to  imprisonment. 

"A  sympathetic  neighbor  had  accompanied  her,  and  they 
had  been  in  Washington  twenty-four  hours  without  having 
seen  the  President.  My  expressions  of  sympathy  broke  the 
poor  woman  completely  down.  She  could  not  stand,  she 
sobbed  so  hysterically.  She  had  been  unable  to  eat  or  sleep 
since  she  had  heard  her  husband's  sentence,  and,  as  her  towns- 
man expressed  it,  'she  would  soon  be  in  her  coffin  if  the 
President  did  not  take  pity  on  her.' 

36 


"I  arranged  with  Senator  Henderson,  of  Missouri,  to  in- 
troduce her  to  the  notice  of  the  President.  'Now  you  must 
be  calm,'  I  said  to  her,  'for  in  a  minute  or  two  you  are  to 
see  the  President,  and  it  will  be  best  for  you  to  tell  your 
own  story.' 

"  'Won't  you  talk  for  me?'  she  entreated.  'I  am  so  tired 
I  can't  think,  and  I  can't  tell  all  my  husband's  story;  do  beg 
the  President  not  to  allow  my  husband  to  be  shot.'  I  pressed 
her  to  my  heart  as  if  she  had  been  a  sister,  for  never  before 
or  since  have  I  seen  a  woman  so  broken  down,  or  one  who 
so  awoke  my  sympathies. 

"  'Don't  fear,'  I  said,  'the  President  does  not  hang  or 
shoot  people  when  he  ought,  and  he  certainly  will  lighten 
your  husband's  sentence  when  he  comes  to  hear  all  the  facts.' 
While  her  agitation  was  at  the  highest  the  door  opened  and 
Secretary  Stanton  came  forth  with  a  huge  budget  of  import- 
ant looking  documents.  Immediately  Senator  Henderson 
ushered  us  into  the  President's  apartment. 

"  'This  woman,  Mr.  President,'  said  one  of  us,  'will  tell 
you  her  story.'  But  instead  of  telling  her  story,  she  dropped 
tremblingly  into  a  chair,  only  half  alive,  and,  lifting  her  white 
face  to  the  President's  with  a  beseeching  look,  more  eloquent 
than  words,  her  colorless  lips  moved  without  emitting  a 
sound.  Seeing  she  was  past  speech,  I  spoke  quickly  in  her 
behalf,  stating  her  case,  and  urging  her  prayer  for  her  hus- 
band's life  with  all  the  earnestness  that  I  felt. 

"All  the  while  the  hungry  eyes  of  the  woman  were  riveted 
on  the  President's  face,  and  tearless  sobs  shook  her  frame. 
The  chair  she  sat  on  fairly  trembled.  The  President  was 
troubled.  'Oh,  dear,  dear!'  he  said,  passing  his  hand  over 
his  face  and  through  his  hair,  'these  cases  kill  me.  I  wish 
I  didn't  have  to  hear  about  them!  What  shall  I  do?  You 
make  the  laws,'  turning  to  members  of  Congress  in  the  room, 

37 


and  then  you  come  with  heartbroken  women  and  ask  me  to 
set  them  aside.  You  have  decided  that  if  a  soldier  raises  his 
hand  against  his  superior  officer,  as  this  man  has  done,  he 
shall  die.  Then,  if  I  leave  the  laws  to  be  executed,  one  of 
these  distressing  scenes  occurs,  which  almost  kills  me.' 

"Somebody  ventured  the  remark  that  'this  seemed  a  case 
where  it  was  safe  to  incline  to  the  side  of  mercy.'  'I  feel  that 
it  is  always  safe,'  replied  the  President,  'but  you  know  that 
I  am  today  in  bad  odor  all  over  the  country  because  I  don't 
have  as  many  persons  put  to  death  as  the  laws  condemn.' 
The  attendant  of  the  wife  gave  the  President  an  abstract  of 
the  case,  which  had  been  furnished  by  the  major's  counsel, 
and  which  the  President  began  gloomily  to  run  over.  Now 
and  then  he  looked  up  pityingly  at  the  speechless  woman, 
whose  white  face  and  beseeching  eyes  still  confronted  him, 
expressive  of  an  intensity  of  anguish  that  was  almost 
frightful. 

"He  had  turned  over  some  half-dozen  pages  of  the  ab- 
stract, when  he  suddenly  dropped  it,  sprang  forward  in  his 
chair,  his  face  brightened  almost  into  beauty,  and  he  rubbed 
his  hands  together  joyfully.  'Oh,'  he  said,  'I  know  all  about 
it!  This  case  came  before  me  ten  days  ago,  and  I  decided  it 
then.  The  major's  crime  and  sentence  were  forwarded  to 
me  privately,  with  a  recommendation  to  mercy,  and,  without 
any  solicitation  I  have  changed  his  sentence  of  death  to  two 
years'   imprisonment  in  the   penitentiary   at  Albany.     Major 

has  been  a  brave  man,  and  a  good  soldier,  and  he  has 

had  great  provocations  for  a  year.  Your  husband  knows  all 
about  it  before  now,'  he  said,  addressing  the  wife,  'and  when 
you  go  back  you  must  go  by  way  of  Albany,  and  see  him. 
Tell  him  to  bear  his  imprisonment  like  a  man,  and  take  a  new 
start  in  the  world  when  it  is  over.' 


38 


"The  major's  wife  did  not  at  first  comprehend,  but  I 
explained  it  to  her.  She  attempted  to  rise,  and  made  a  mo- 
tion as  if  she  were  going  to  kneel  at  the  President's  feet,  but 
instead  she  only  slipped  helplessly  to  the  floor  before  him, 
and  for  a  long  time  lay  in  a  dead  faint.  The  President  was 
greatly  moved.  He  helped  raise  her,  and  when  she  was  taken 
from  the  room  he  paced  back  and  forth  for  a  few  moments 
before  he  could  attend  to  other  business.  'Poor  woman,'  he 
said,  'I  don't  believe  she  would  have  lived  if  her  husband  had 
been  shot.     What  a  heap  of  trouble  this  war  has  made!' 

"The  expression  of  the  President's  face  as  it  dawned  upon 
him  that  he  had  already  interposed  between  the  major  and 
death  will  never  leave  my  memory.  His  swarthy,  rugged, 
homely  face  was  glorified  by  the  delight  of  his  soul,  which 
shone  out  on  his  features.  He  delighted  in  mercy.  It  gave 
him  positive  happiness  to  confer  a  favor." 

CHAPTER  XIII 

LINCOLNS'   LOFTY  UNSELFISHNESS 
CONTROLLING   SELF,   HE  COULD   CONTROL  OTHERS 


T"HHAT  Lincoln  was  above  all  feeling  of  personal  slight 
or  criticism,  that,  paramount  to  every  consideration 
jjJH^      of  personal  dignity,  ease,  or  profit,  was  his  love  of 
country,  and,  during  the  war,  his  desire  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Union  cause,  is  evidenced  by  many  recorded  anec- 
dotes and  documents. 

Perhaps  nothing  the  great  man  ever  uttered  or  written 
exemplifies  this  more  clearly  and  forcefully  than  the  letter 
he  penned  Major-General  Hooker,  January  26,  1863,  after 
that  general  had  vilified  Lincoln,  his  commander-in-chief, 
and  shown  insubordination  to  the  officer  who  immediately 
ranked  him. 

39 


This  letter  read  as  follows: 

"Executive  Mansion, 
"Washington,  January  26,  1863. 
"Major-General  Hooker. 

"General:  I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac. 

"Of  course,  I  have  done  this  upon  what  appear  to  me  to 
be  sufficient  reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know 
that  there  are  some  things  in  regard  to  which  I  am  not  quite 
satisfied  with  you. 

"I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skilful  soldier,  which,  of 
course,  I  like. 

"I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics  with  your  profes- 
sion, in  which  you  are  right. 

"You  have  confidence  in  yourself,  which  is  a  valuable  if 
not  an  indispensable  quality. 

"You  are  ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable  bounds, 
does  good  rather  than  harm;  but  I  think  that  during  General 
Burnsides'  command  of  the  army  you  have  taken  counsel  of 
your  ambition  and  thwarted  him  as  much  as  you  could,  in 
which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most 
meritorious  and  honorable  brother  officer. 

"I  have  heard,  in  such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  of  your 
recently  saying  that  both  the  army  and  the  government 
needed  a  dictator.  Of  course,  it  was  not  for  this,  but  in  spite 
of  it,  that  I  have  given  you  the  command.  Only  those  gen- 
erals who  gain  successes  can  set  up  dictators.  What  I  now 
ask  of  you  is  military  success,  and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship. 

"The  government  will  support  you  to  the  utmost  of  its 
ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  it  has  done  and 
will  do  for  all  commanders.  I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  you 
have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of  criticising  their  com- 
mander and  withholding  confidence  from  him,  will  now  turn 

40 


upon  you.  I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put  it  down. 
"Neither  you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again,  could 
get  any  good  out  of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it. 
And  now,  beware  of  rashness ;  beware  of  rashness,  but  with 
energy  and  sleepless  vigilance  go  forward  and  give  us 
victories. 

"Yours  very  truly, 

"A.   LINCOLN." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SHERMAN'S  AND   GRANT'S  TRIBUTES 


pTIENERAL     SHERMAN     said    of    Lincoln,    after    his 
>J        death:    "Of  all   the  men   I  ever  met,  he  seemed  to 
l^g^      possess  more  of  the  elements  of  greatness,  combined 
with  goodness,  than  any  other  man  I  ever  knew  or 
heard  of." 

General  Grant,  after  his  world-girdling  trip,  in  which 
he  met  the  rulers  of  almost  every  civilized  country,  said : 
"Lincoln  impressed  me  as  the  greatest  intellectual  force 
which  I  have  ever  had  the  good  fortune  to  know." 

But  not  only  were  Lincoln's  fellow  countrymen  proud  of 
him,  not  only  did  they  love  him  both  as  man  and  chief  magis- 
trate, not  only  did  the  people  of  America  mourn.  Unprece- 
dented outbursts  of  emotion  on  the  receipt  of  the  sad  news  of 
the  assassination  were  seen  in  many  other  countries. 

Old  newspapers  and  magazines  reveal  the  fact,  for 
instance,  that  the  students  of  Paris  marched  in  a  body  to  the 
American  Legation  to  express  their  sympathy.  A  two-cent 
subscription  was  started  to  strike  a  massive  gold  medal ;  the 
money  was  soon  raised.  A  committee  of  French  Liberals 
brought  the  medal  to  the  American  Minister,  to  be  sent  to 

41 


Mrs.  Lincoln.  "Tell  her,"  they  said,  "the  heart  of  France 
is  in  that  little  box."  The  inscription  on  the  lid  of  the  box 
was  this :  "Lincoln — the  Honest  Man ;  Abolished  Slavery, 
Re-established  the  Union;  Saved  the  Republic,  Without  Veil- 
ing the  Statue  of  Liberty." 

Everywhere  on  the  Continent  the  same  great  love  for 
Lincoln  was  manifested  among  the  common  people. 

Nicolay  and  Hay  say  of  Lincoln :  "Almost  before  the 
earth  closed  over  him  he  began  to  be  the  subject  of  fable. 
The  Freemasons  of  Europe  generally  regarded  him  as  one 
of  them — his  portrait  in  Masonic  garb  was  often  displayed, 
yet  he  was  not  one  of  this  brotherhood.  The  Spiritualists 
claimed  him  as  their  most  illustrious  adept,  but  he  was  not 
a  Spiritualist;  and  there  was  hardly  a  sect  in  the  Western 
world,  from  the  Calvinist  to  the  Atheist,  but  affected  to 
believe  he  was  of  their  opinion." 


CHAPTER  XV 

LINCOLN'S  WIT  AND  WISDOM 


INCOLN'S  stepbrother  was  rather  "shiftless,"  and 
formed  the  habit  of  appealing  to  him  for  aid.  The 
following  letter,  written  by  Lincoln  upon  receipt  of 
one  of  the  numerous  requests  for  assistance,  brims 
with  canny  wisdom  and  unconscious  humor.  It  is  very  char- 
acteristic of  the  man.  To  Col.  Henry  Watterson  we  owe  the 
discovery  of  this  letter : 

"Springfield,  January  2,  1851. 

"Dear  Brother:    Your  request  for  eighty  dollars  I  do  not 

think  it  best  to  comply  with  now.     At  the  various  times  I 

have  helped  you  a  little  you  have  said:  'We  can  get  along 

very  well  now,'  but  in  a  short  time  I  find  you  in  the  same 

42 


difficulty  again.  Now  this  can  only  happen  through  some 
defect  in  you.  What  that  defect  is  I  think  I  know.  You 
are  not  lazy,  and  still  you  are  an  idler.  I  doubt  whether 
since  I  saw  you  you  have  done  a  good,  whole  day's  work 
in  any  one  day.  You  do  not  very  much  dislike  to  work,  and 
still  you  do  not  work  much,  merely  because  it  does  not  seem 
to  you  you  get  enough  for  it.  This  habit  of  uselessly  wast- 
ing time  is  the  whole  difficulty.  It  is  vastly  important  to 
you,  and  still  more  to  your  children,  that  you  break  the 
habit.     .     .     . 

"You  are  now  in  need  of  some  money,  and  what  I  pro- 
pose is  that  you  shall  go  to  work,  'tooth  and  nail,'  for  some- 
body who  will  give  you  money  for  it.  Let  father  and  your 
boys  take  charge  of  the  things  at  home,  prepare  for  a  crop 
and  make  the  crop,  and  you  go  to  work  for  the  best  money 
wages  you  can  get,  or  in  discharge  of  any  debt  you  owe,  and, 
to  secure  you  a  fair  reward  for  your  labor,  I  promise  you 
that  for  every  dollar  you  will  get  for  your  labor  between  this 
and  the  1st  of  May,  either  in  money  or  in  your  indebtedness, 
I  will  then  give  you  one  other  dollar.  By  this,  if  you  hire 
yourself  for  ten  dollars  a  month,  from  me  you  will  get  ten 
dollars  more,  making  twenty  dollars.     .     .     . 

"In  this  I  do  not  mean  that  you  shall  go  off  to  St.  Louis, 
or  the  lead  mines  in  Missouri,  or  the  gold  mines  in  California, 
but  I  mean  for  you  to  go  at  it  for  the  best  wages  you  can 
get  close  to  home  in  Coles  County.  If  you  will  do  this  you 
will  soon  be  out  of  debt,  and  what  is  better,  you  will  have 
acquired  a  habit  which  will  keep  you  from  getting  in  debt 
again.  But  if  I  should  now  clear  you  out  of  debt,  next  year 
you  would  be  just  as  deep  in  debt  as  ever. 

"You  say  you  would  almost  give  your  place  in  Heaven 
for  seventy  or  eighty  dollars?  Then  you  value  your  place  in 
Heaven  very  cheap,  for  I  am  sure  you  can,  with  the  offer  I 

43 


make,  get  the  seventy  or  eighty  dollars  for  four  or  five 
months'  work. 

"You  say  if  I  will  lend  you  the  money  you  will  deed  me 
the  land,  and,  if  you  don't  pay  the  money  back,  you  will  de- 
liver possession.  Nonsense !  If  you  can  not  now  live  with 
the  land,  how  will  you  then  live  without  it? 

"You  have  always  been  kind  to  me,  and  I  do  not  mean 
to  be  unkind  to  you.  On  the  contrary,  if  you  but  follow  my 
advice  you  will  find  it  worth  eighty  times  eighty  dollars  to 

you. 

"Affectionately,  your  brother, 

"A.    LINCOLN." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

LINCOLN'S  FAME 


H""^ON.  JOHN   HAY,  who  was  one  of  Lincoln's  private 
secretaries,  says: 

WMl  "The  death  of  Lincoln  awoke  all  over  the  world 

may 

a  quick  and  deep  emotion  of  grief  and  admiration. 
If  he  had  died  in  the  days  of  doubt  and  gloom  which  pre- 
ceded his  re-election,  he  would  have  been  sincerely  mourned 
and  praised  by  the  friends  of  the  Union,  but  his  enemies 
would  have  curtly  dismissed  him  as  one  of  the  necessary 
and  misguided  victims  of  sectional  hate. 

"They  would  have  used  his  death  to  justify  the  malevo- 
lent forebodings,  to  point  the  moral  of  new  lectures  on  the 
instability  of  democracies.  But  as  he  had  fallen  at  the 
moment  of  a  stupendous  victory,  the  halo  of  a  radiant  success 
enveloped  his  memory  and  dazzled  the  eyes  even  of  his  most 
hostile  critics.  That  portion  of  the  press  of  England  and 
the  Continent  which  had  persistently  vilified  him  now  joined 

44 


in  the  universal  chorus  of  elegaic  praise.  Cabinets  and  courts 
which  had  been  cold  or  unfriendly  sent  their  messages  of 
condolence. 

"The  French  Government,  spurred  on  by  their  Liberal 
opponents,  took  prompt  measures  to  express  their  admiration 
for  his  character  and  their  horror  at  his  taking-off.  In  the 
Senate  and  Chamber  of  deputies  the  imperialists  and  repub- 
licans vied  with  each  other  in  utterances  of  grief  and  praise; 
the  Emperor  and  Empres  sent  their  personal  condolences  to 
Mrs.  Lincoln." 

At  the  impressive  funeral  services  Bishop  Simpson  de- 
livered a  pathetic  oration ;  prayers  were  offered  and  hymns 
were  sung ;  but  the  weightiest  and  most  eloquent  words 
uttered  anywhere  that  day  were  those  of  the  Second  Inaug- 
ural (reproduced  in  this  little  book),  which  the  committee 
had  wisely  ordained  to  be  read  over  his  grave,  as  the  friends 
of  Raphael  chose  the  incomparable  canvas  of  the  Transfigur- 
ation as  the  chief  ornament  of  his  funeral. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  GREAT  SECOND   INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 
DELIVERED   MARCH  4,   1865 

ELLOW  COUNTRYMEN:  At  this  second  appearing 
to  take  the  oath  of  the  Presidential  office,  there  is 
less  occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there  was 
at  the  first.     Then,  a  statement,  somewhat  in  detail, 


of  a  course  to  be  pursued  seemed  fitting  and  proper.  Now, 
at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which  public  declara- 
tions have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every  point  and 
phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  atten- 
tion and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation,  little  that  is 

45 


new  could  be  presented.  The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon 
which  all  else  chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the 
public  as  to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory 
and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the  future,  no 
prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago,  all 
thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending  civil  war. 
All  dreaded  it — all  sought  to  avert  it.  While  the  inaugural 
address  was  being  delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  alto- 
gether to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent  agents 
were  in  the  city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war — seeking  to 
dissolve  the  Union,  and  divide  effects,  by  negotiation.  Both 
parties  deprecated  war;  but  one  would  make  war  rather  than 
let  the  nation  survive ;  and  the  other  would  accept  war  rather 
than  let  it  perish. 

And  the  war  came. 

One-eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored  slaves, 
not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but  localized  in  the 
southern  part  of  it.  These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and 
powerful  interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest  was,  somehow, 
the  cause  of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate  and  extend 
this  interest  was  the  object  for  which  the  insurgents  would 
rend  the  Union,  even  by  war;  while  the  Government  claimed 
no  right  to  do  more  than  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement 
of  it.  Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude  or 
the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither  antici- 
pated that  the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease  with,  or  even 
before,  the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an 
easier  triumph,  and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astound- 
ing. Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God; 
and  each  invokes  His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assist- 
ance in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's 

46 


faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The 
prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered — that  of  neither 
of  them  has  been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty  has  His 
own  purposes.  "Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offenses! 
for  it  must  needs  be  that  offenses  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man 
by  whom  the  offense  cometh."  If  we  shall  suppose  that 
American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  con- 
tinued through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove, 
and  that  He  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war, 
as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we 
discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attributes 
which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him? 
Fondly  do  we  hope— fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills 
that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be 
paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three 
thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  "The  judgments 
of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all ;  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us 
strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's 
wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle, 
and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves, 
and  with  all  nations. 


47 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

LINCOLN'S  GETTYSBURG  SPEECH 
DELIVERED   NOVEMBER   19,   1863 

OURSCORE  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived 
in  Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all 
men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can 
long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war. 
We  are  met  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  it  as  the  final  resting 
place  of  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should 
do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  can  not  dedicate,  we  can  not 
consecrate,  we  can  not  hallow,  this  ground.  The  brave  men, 
living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated  it  far 
above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little 
note  or  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never 
forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather 
to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  that  they  have 
thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us;  that  from 
these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  the  cause 
for  which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion; 
that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the  dead  shall  not  have  lived 
in  vain,  that  the  nation  shall,  under  God,  have  a  new  birth 
of  freedom,  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 


48 


I 


N  1868  Issac  H.  Clothier  entered  into  partnership  with  Justus  C. 
Strawbridge,  under  the  firm  name  of  Strawbridge  &  Clothier. 
Important  extensions  were  immediately  planned,  and  a  larger 
building  was  erected.  The  business  is  now  owned  solely  and 
controlled  by  the  sons  of  the  founders ;  and  it  was  the  occupancy 
of  that  new  store  in  the  autumn  of  1868  that  was  commemorated  during 
the  month  of  October,  1908,  by  the  Fortieth  Anniversary  Exposition. 

Many  and  larger  additions  have  been  made  to  the  Strawbridge  &  Clothier 
store  since  1868,  but  the  establishing  of  the  principles  was  the  important 
thing — upon  a  foundation  broader  and  stronger  than  bricks  and  stone 
has  been  reared  the  great  store  of  to-day. 

From  the  beginning  the  one-price  principle  has  been  maintained — not 
a  new  system  then,  however,  though  it  is  claimed  to  have  been 
"originated"  long  since. 

The  customers  of  this  store  have  also  always  been  allowed  the  privilege 
of  a  fair  exchange  or  return  of  goods  that  were  not  satisfactory. 

It  has  been  a  square  deal  business  from  its  inception,  and  has  never  had  to 
adopt  "new"  principles  of  trade,  though  quick  to  establish  new  methods 
and  improvements.  Its  motto  has  ever  been  to  sell  merchandise 
of  trustworthy  quality  only,  at  prices  as  low  as  possible  with  good 
service ;  to  require  courtesy  from  every  employe  to  every  visitor ;  to 
lead  in  every  movement  toward  better  methods  of  serving  the  public. 

The  Strawbridge  &  Clothier  store  is  the  oldest  of  the  large  general  stores  in 
Philadelphia,  and  is  doubtless  among  the  half-dozen  largest  in 
America. 

The  stocks  of  merchandise  exceed  five  millions  of  dollars,  and  the 
business  of  the  firm  in  many  of  the  important  lines  is  larger  than 
that  of  any  other  store  in  Philadelphia. 

The  number  of  employes  is  approximately  five  thousand,  and  this  great 
organization  is  rated  above  the  average  in  character,  intelligence  and 
efficiency.  The  members  of  the  firm  maintain  close  relationship 
with  the  entire  body  of  helpers,  with  an  unusual  regard  for  the  wel- 
fare of  all,  giving  substantial  encouragement  to  every  movement  for 
bettering  their  condition. 

The  Strawbridge  &  Clothier  Relief  Association  and  the  Strawbridge  & 
Clothier  Saving  Fund  are  among  the  pioneer  organizations  of  the 
kind  in  America.  A  Pension  Fund  for  the  benefit  of  employes 
growing  old  in  the  store's  service  has  been  established,  and  a  large 
sum  already  accumulated.  The  firm  is  also  proud  of  the  Strawbridge 
&  Clothier  Chorus,  made  up  entirely  of  store  employes,  and  regarded 
as  among  Philadelphia's  notable  musical  organizations.  A  monthly 
magazine  is  also  published  by  and  for  the  employes  who  designate 
themselves  "  The  Store  Family." 


STRAWBRIDGE  &  CLOTHIER 
Founded  1868 

On  the  Principles  of 

Sincerity  and  Courtesy  and 

"the   Square  Deal" 


